Our Living Legends series honors the pioneers and the barrier breakers in our community. They were the first Fil-Ams in their fields, each of them recognized for their outstanding work. They paved (or are paving) the way for those who came later. Through their achievements and with their guidance, the Filipino American community claims its place in American society.

COMMUNITY

Gloria Caoile

Caoile is a prominent civic leader in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. She was a founding member of the Asian Pacific American Women Leadership Institute (APAWLI), the only national organization dedicated to nurturing and developing leadership skills among Asian American and Pacific Islander women. She was also a founding member of Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) and has served on the boards of several civil rights groups including the Filipino American Civil Rights Advocates and the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA). Caoile’s professional experience includes more than 30 years of service with American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), a 1.3 million member union, where she last served as the assistant to the AFSCME President prior to her retirement. Caoile promoted and was directly responsible for forging a partnership between labor groups and the Asian American and Pacific Islander community to advance voter participation.

Caoile also promoted community and economic development programs that help the poor in the Philippines. In recognition of her work, Philippine President Fidel Ramos, in 1997, presented her with one of the Philippines’ highest civic awards. In May 2020, President Bill Clinton appointed Caoile to the White House Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. She continues to be active today and volunteers to promote APA participation in the political process and empowering women.

In one of her speeches, she said, “Women in this country have not only had to learn to manage in the workplace, produce substantial work along with their male peers, but to change the culture of the workplace. Our challenge in this country has been made more difficult by the fact that we have had to face sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace, attempt to pierce the glass ceiling, and yet at the same time, our traditional role as a nurturer of the family remain unchanged……..I believe that Filipino women offer a model for what this country needs — women determined to succeed in their chosen professions while maintaining a strong commitment to family and to the community.”

Reuben Seguritan

Seguritan received his bachelor’s degrees in Law and Political Science from the University of the Philippines. He was a student leader and an editor of his school’s law review, Philippine Law Journal, and also its newsletter, Philippine Law Register. He was an entrance and college scholar and a member of the law honor society. Before coming to the U.S., he taught business law and international politics in a state university, edited law books and was the chief counsel of a major labor federation.

He has maintained a successful law practice in New York for 50 years defending and promoting the welfare and interests of his kababayan and their friends among whom are nurses, teachers, scientists and World War II veterans. He has distinguished himself in his profession and is known for his volunteer service to the community. Seguritan fought against the deportation of Filipino nurses and the repatriation move against Filipino doctors in the ‘70s and ‘80s. He also advocated for Filipino American causes such as dual citizenship, overseas voting rights and the fight of Filipino war veterans for citizenship and benefits. He has served as general counsel of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), the Association of Philippine Physicians in America (APPA), the Philippine Nurses Association of America (PNAA) and PNA New York, the Philippine Medical Association in America (PMAA) and other national and local organizations.

As a lawyer and an advocate, he has received numerous awards such as “20 Outstanding Filipino Americans” conferred in Washington, D.C., the Filipinas Magazine Achievement Award for Community Service and an Outstanding Young Man of America award. He also received the Philippine Presidential Award from President Fidel V. Ramos, for “contributions which have significantly benefited a sector or community in the Philippines, or advanced the cause of overseas Filipino communities.” Seguritan also received distinguished professional awards such as the Distinguished Professional Alumni Award in Law (1989); the Exemplary Achievement Award in Immigration Law (1979); the Outstanding Professional Award (2002), and the Who’s Who in American Law (1982).

He is also a prolific writer having published numerous articles in law journals and other publications touching on immigration and discrimination. He authored We Didn’t Pass Through the Golden Door, a book of essays on the plight of Filipinos overseas who have been treated, in his own words as “objects of discrimination and legal oppression.” The book makes reference to significant moments in the history of Filipino immigration to America and gives an in-depth discussion on the issues affecting immigrant Filipinos and Filipino Americans like subjugation and racial prejudice and sounds a call for unity and empowerment.

He has been a columnist for community newspapers such as the Filipino Reporter; and The Filipino Express, Hawaii-Filipino Chronicle, The Filipino Catholic and One Philippines. He continues to write today.

He and Dr. Jean Raymundo Lobell co-founded the Filipino American Human Services, Inc. (FAHSI), an organization that provides social services to disadvantaged Filipinos in the New York area. It focused on citizenship and immigration issues the first two years and then added college mentoring, education, counseling, women and youth empowerment, and a senior program.

Seguritan has been a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association since 1975.

Irene Natividad

Born in San Fernando, Pampanga, Natividad was five years old when her family left the Philippines. Her father, a chemical engineer, worked for an American firm. He moved his family several times because of his job, first to Okinawa, then to Iran, India, Greece, and finally Canada. Natividad, who speaks six languages, was educated mainly in American-run international schools. At 18, she moved to New York to study. She graduated valedictorian of the class of 1971 from Long Island University, which later awarded her a Doctorate in Humane Letters for her global work on behalf of women.

Natividad’s commitment to promoting women, nationally and internationally, stems from her decade-long involvement with the National Women’s Political Caucus, a 50-year-old bipartisan organization dedicated to electing and appointing more women to public office. Widely recognized for her outstanding leadership of the Caucus, she was elected President in 1985 and re-elected in 1987, the first Asian American ever to head a national political organization. She is Chair of the Globe Women Research and Education Institute, President of the Global Summit of Women, an annual international gathering of women leaders from around the world on business and economic issues, and Chair of Corporate Women Directors International (CWDI), which promotes the increased participation of women on corporate boards globally.

Natividad is the force behind the 30-year-old Global Summit of Women, informally called “The Davos for Women” by past participants for the caliber of its attendees and presenters, as well as its mix of business and government leaders. As CWDI Chair, she has produced 29 reports in 22 years on women directors in different countries, regions, and industries and has convened women board directors and executives to “ring the opening bell” at 21 Stock Exchanges based in different countries to date -- a business tradition in which she feels women must be seen.

Long known for her coalition work, Natividad has served on numerous boards of directors and advisory boards of nonprofits such as the Global Economic Symposium and the National Museum of Women in the Arts based in the U.S. to corporate advisory boards for Cigna, Wyndham International, Enterprising Women magazine, and the National Association of Corporate Directors. She was also a member of the 2012 National Association of Corporate Directors’ Blue Ribbon Commission on Board Diversity and the European Commission’s Network to Promote Women in Decision-Making. In 1994 she was appointed to the Board of Directors of Sallie Mae, a Fortune 100 company, by President Clinton, where she served for eight years.

On the international level, Natividad has worked to include women’s voices and issues in global forums such as the OECD, World Bank, UN agencies, the European Forum for New Ideas, among others. She has been part of the T-20 (think tank for the G20), the W-20 and was appointed by President Macron to the G7 Advisory Council on Gender Equality during France’s presidency in 2019, resulting in France’s awarding Natividad last September 10, 2021 the highest civilian honor, the Legion d’Honneur, for her “life-long commitment to broadening opportunities for women all over the world.”

Natividad’s work has been honored by numerous media organizations. She is one of Diversity Journal’s 2012 Women Worth Watching. In 2004, she was selected by Women’s eNews as one of the Leaders for the 21stCentury. She was named in 1997 as one of the Most Influential Working Mothers by Working Mother Magazine; in 1993 as one of the Women Changing American Politics by Campaigns & Elections Magazine; and recognized by A. Magazine as one of the top 25 influential Asian Americans. Natividad was also named in 1988 as one of the Most Powerful Women in America by Ladies Home Journal. She has been awarded a Doctorate in Humane Letters by Long Island University, from where she graduated valedictorian in 1971; and by Marymount College (New York) in 1994 for her global work on behalf of women.

Natividad gives much of the credit for her achievements to strong Filipino American values inherited from her Filipino parents. “I think the tendency to believe more in communal effort, the persistence and hard work that I’ve put into my job are Filipino, very Asian,” she said.

Now in her 70s, Natividad shows no signs of slowing down. In an interview with PositivelyFilipino.com she said, “I’ll always be doing what I’ve been doing no matter what. My causes are women, the Philippines, Asians, and minorities. If I get to live longer, I’d organize the old folks for better housing.” For now, she is committed to “maintaining our gains, taking charge of our political destiny and becoming increasingly responsible for our political futures – as voters and as candidates.” She adds: “I'm not about to hang up my hat, because the last time I looked -- women still don't have equality!"

Loida Nicolas Lewis

Loida Nicolas Lewis was born in Sorsogon, Philippines. She earned her B.A. in Humanities from St. Theresa’s College in Manila and her Bachelor of Law from the University of the Philippines. In 1974, She became the first Asian woman to pass the New York Bar, making her eligible to practice law in both the Philippines and the United States. She began to work for the Law Students Civil Research Council in New York, and then as an attorney for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) from 1979 until 1987. Lewis has had a major impact as an immigration lawyer, particularly when it comes to the rights of Filipino immigrants living in America. After winning her discrimination case against INS in 1979, she co-wrote the book "How to Get a Green Card" with Ilona Bray JD, which is now on its 12th Edition and published by NOLO.

Lewis met her husband-to-be Reginald F. Lewis on a blind date in New York City in 1968 and were then married a year later. It was in December 1987 when her husband Reginald acquired Beatrice International in a $985 million leveraged buyout, creating the largest African American-owned company in the United States. Reginald died from brain cancer in 1993. Lewis served as an informal adviser and confidant to her late husband. After a year of mourning, she served as CEO and Chair of TLC Beatrice International, the multinational food company that her husband entrusted to her. In an article written by Coco Marett entitled "How Loida Got Her Groove Back," the author states: "But despite her position and her wealth following her takeover of TLC Beatrice, Lewis remained far from flamboyant. In fact, the humble businesswoman's first move was to sell the company jet and limousines and move her office from its top floor luxury suite in Manhattan to a more humble and inconspicuous space." This allowed her to maximize the profits of her late husband's company, which she sold in 1999.

She co-founded he National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) in 1997 with publisher Alex Esclamado, lawyer Rodel Rodis and community leader Gloria Caoile with the goal to empower Filipino Americans, the Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund (AALDEF) and the U.S. Filipinos for Good Governance. She is a board member of The Center on Public Diplomacy, the National Catholic Reporter, and chair the Reginald F. Lewis Foundation.

Lewis has been critical of President Duterte’s extrajudicial killings in his war on drugs. The President allegedly accused Lewis of being behind the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to conduct examinations into the killings. Lewis denied the accusation. As a consequence, the Davao City Council declared Lewis as “persona non grata.” Lewis has also called for the resignation of President Duterte and denied involvement in any plot to oust the President.

MILITARY

Lt. General Edward Soriano

Soriano is the highest ranking Filipino American officer to have served in the United States military and the first to be promoted to a general officer.

He was born in Pangasinan, Philippines. Soriano came to the United States in the early 1950s, at the age of six, when his father, Federico Soriano, a soldier in the United States Army, was assigned to Fort Benning, Georgia. Soriano's father was a corporal in the 57th Infantry (Philippine Scouts) during World War II. After the surrender of American forces in Bataan to the Japanese, the elder Soriano became a prisoner of war and was subjected to the Bataan Death March. The elder Soriano later served in the Korean War, and again became a prisoner of war. During the Korean War, young Edward and the rest of his family moved from Guam back to the Philippines. His father later retired from the army as a major. In the 1960s, his family moved to Salinas, California, and Soriano later graduated from Salinas High School. His father's service inspired Soriano to join the military.

Soriano graduated from San Jose State University (SJSU) in 1970 with a degree in Management, and later earned a master’s in Public Administration from the University of Missouri. He has served the military in various capacities in different military installations in the U.S. and outside of the U.S. like Korea, Germany, Bosnia and Iraq. He has received the following medals and ribbons: Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Navy and Marine Corps, Army Achievement Medal; and the following badges: Expert Infantryman Badge; Basic Parachutist Badge; Ranger Tab; Office of the Secretary of Defense Identification Badge; and Army Staff Identification Badge. He told Starweek, "The challenge is always seeking those opportunities that allow you to progress, that allow you to get better. And that's what I did, that's how I rose through the ranks, how I got all the right jobs, the right positions. I worked as hard as I could, tried to be the best that I could possibly be."

Because of his good performance record, Soriano became the director for operations, readiness, and mobilization at the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans. In that position he made certain that Army units were prepared to be instantly deployed on missions around the world. He was specifically in charge of troops in Haiti, Bosnia, Somalia, and other areas of tension around the world. Of all his positions Soriano told the Asian Week website, "It's a significant responsibility. You're entrusted with the lives of the soldiers and their families. It takes dedication and hard work to succeed."

After September 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center buildings were destroyed by terrorists, the U.S. government set up a homeland security department under the Joint Forces Command. This department ran separately from its civilian counterpart. Soriano was given the office of the second director of homeland security in the military in November of 2001. He held the position for ten months before he was made, in 2002, a commanding general of I Corps and Fort Lewis in Washington, a position he held for the rest of his career.

Since his retirement, Soriano has worked for Northrop Grumman as the Director of Training and Exercises for Homeland Security and Joint Forces Support. He has also sat on numerous boards of directors including Home Front Cares and Goodwill Industries of Colorado Springs. Additionally, Soriano is the current president of the board of directors of the Mountain Post Historical Center at Fort Carson, and the vice-chairman of the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce's military affairs committee. Along with retired Major General Antonio Taguba, Soriano has been active in ceremonies to provide facsimiles of Filipino Veterans of World War II Congressional Gold Medal to surviving veterans and their family members.

Major General Antonio Taguba

Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba (Source NBC News)

Taguba’s family hails from Cagayan, Philippines, but he grew up in Sampaloc, Manila. His father was a soldier in the 45th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Division, who fought in the Battle of Bataan and survived the Bataan Death March. When he was 11 years old, the family moved to Hawaii.

Taguba graduated from Leilehua High School in Wahiawa, Hawaii. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Idaho State University and graduated from the Armor Officer Basic and Advanced Course, the Army Command and General Staff College, the College of Naval Command and Staff and the Army War College. He also holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Webster University, a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from Salve Regina College, and a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the College of Naval Command and Staff at the Naval War College.

In 1972, Taguba was commissioned as a second Lieutenant and has served in Korea, Germany, Fort Sill in Oklahoma, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort McPherson in Georgia, Fort Jackson in South Carolina and at the Pentagon. At Alexandria, Virginia, Taguba was promoted to Brigadier General in charge of the United States Army Community and Family Support Center. He was also the deputy commanding general for support of the Third United States Army, United States Army Forces Central Command, Coalition Forces Land Component Command based in Kuwait.

In 2004, Taguba was assigned to report on abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib in Iraq. He released a very critical report that was leaked to the public, and he was reassigned to the Pentagon to serve as deputy assistant secretary of defense for readiness, training, and mobilization in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs. In January 2006, Taguba was instructed to retire, ending a 34-year career of military service. He believes that his forced retirement was a retaliation for his report on the abuse of prisoners.

After retiring, Taguba became involved in helping Filipino World War II veterans get the monetary benefits they were entitled to. He also successfully lobbied Congress to award a Congressional Gold Medal to memorialize the service and sacrifice of the more than 260,000 Filipino and Filipino American soldiers who served during WW II. “We wanted to achieve a small victory for the 90- and 100-year-old veterans who had waited and had almost given up not getting recognized — a ‘thank you’ from our country,” said Taguba, who’s now involved in a similar campaign for Chinese American World War II veterans.

Vice Admiral Raquel Cruz Bono

Raquel Cruz Bono is a retired vice admiral in the United States Navy, and the former director of the Defense Health Agency. Commissioned in June 1979, Bono obtained her baccalaureate degree from the University of Texas at Austin and M.D. from the School of Medicine at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. She completed a surgical internship and a General Surgery residency at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, and a Trauma and Critical Care fellowship at the Eastern Virginia Graduate School of Medicine in Norfolk, Virginia.

Shortly after training, Bono saw duty in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm as head, Casualty Receiving, Fleet Hospital Five in Saudi Arabia from August 1990 to March 1991. Upon returning, she was stationed at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth as a surgeon in the General Surgery department; surgical intensivist in the Medical/Surgical Intensive Care Unit, and attending surgeon at the Burn Trauma Unit at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. She has also served as the Specialty Leader for Intern Matters to the Surgeon General of the Navy.

In September 1999, she was assigned as the director of Restorative Care at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, followed by assignment to the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery from September 2001 to December 2002 as the medical corps career planning officer for the Chief of the Medical Corps. She returned to the National Naval Medical Center in January 2003 as director for Medical–Surgical Services.

From August 2004 through August 2005 she served as the executive assistant to the 35th Navy Surgeon General of the Navy and Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. Following that, she reported to Naval Hospital Jacksonville, Florida, as the commanding officer from August 2005 to August 2008. In September 2008, she became the chief of staff, deputy director Tricare Management Activity (TMA) of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Health Affairs (OASD(HA)). She reported as deputy director, Medical Resources, Plans and Policy (N093), Chief of Naval Operations in June 2010.

In addition to being a Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery, Bono is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma. Her personal decorations include a Defense Superior Service Medal, three Legion of Merit Medals, two Meritorious Service Medals, and two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals.

On March 22, 2020, Bono was named by Washington State Governor Jay Inslee to lead the state health system's response to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. In December 2020, she joined Viking Cruises as its Chief Health Officer.

MEDIA

Lloyd LaCuesta

Lloyd LaCuesta was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, but he grew up in Kauai. Until his retirement in June 2012, he was KTVU’s South Bay Bureau Chief for the San Francisco Bay Area TV station where he worked for 35 years. He is the longest-tenured Filipino American broadcast journalist in a major city.

LaCuesta served in the Army as a broadcast journalist for the American Forces Korea Network. He attended San Jose State University (SJSU), earning a B.A. in Journalism and Political Science. He won the Sigma Delta Chi Award for reporting while at SJSU. He received an M.A. in Journalism from University of California, Los Angeles. When he graduated from San Jose State College’s School of Journalism in 1969, he had already been tear-gassed, beaten up, locked in Tower Hall with student and faculty protestors, and had his film camera smashed in a student demonstration. He helped break a story on FBI spying on campus and interviewed some of the top California political leaders. Evolving from a student journalist into a professional was therefore, a piece of cake for LaCuesta.

He worked as a writer for KNX/CBS Radio in Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, and as a producer for KABC-TV in Los Angeles and KGO-TV in San Francisco. He started work at Oakland-based television station KTVU in 1976. LaCuesta has won six Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) and received awards from Peninsula Press Club and Associated Press. He received a lifetime achievement award from the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) in 2004 and the Filipinas Magazine Achievement Award for Communication in 2006. He was the first elected national president of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), an organization that has since grown into chapters throughout the country and in Asia. He was also the first president of Unity Journalists of Color, a collation of America’s Black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American journalists’ associations.

The award-winning journalist has reported on some of the biggest stories in the history of the Bay Area and California including the Loma Prieta earthquake and the Oakland Hills fire. He also covered big national stories including the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens, the L.A. riots in 1992, the Columbine high school shooting and reported live from the GOP convention in 1980. LaCuesta traveled internationally for KTVU covering Hurricane Mitch in Honduras, the Kobe, Japan earthquake, and produced multi-part series in Vietnam about Amerasian children. He went to the Philippines to cover the Marcos vs. Aquino Presidential campaign.

Besides reporting, he has taught journalism at SJSU and Menlo College. “I find it extremely rewarding to be interacting with young budding journalists.” LaCuesta said. “My career has truly come full circle.”

On the announcement of his retirement, he said, “I have spent half of my life at KTVU which makes it all the more difficult to say goodbye. But it is time…..I need to slow down and truly enjoy life.” The San Francisco Chronicle’s Peter Hartlaub calls LaCuesta the “iron man” of local journalism. “A mere ‘congratulations’ seems a little weak for KTVU reporter Lloyd LaCuesta, who announced this week that he’s retiring after 36 years of covering every brutal storm and quadruple homicide since ‘Afternoon Delight’ was No. 1 on the charts.”

LaCuesta concluded, “As I end my career, I hope I have helped those who have watched me over the years become better informed and involved citizens. KTVU allowed me to cover events which viewers experienced through my eyes.”

LaCuesta set up a scholarship fund in AAJA for male students hoping to break into the television broadcasting industry. He is married to Positively Filipino’s publisher, Mona Lisa Yuchengco.

Stephanie Castillo

Castillo graduated high school from the American School in Manila, Philippines, and got her bachelor’s degree in Journalism and her executive master’s degree in Business Administration at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, after attending Kaua‘i Community College. Her grandfather and grandmother came to the island from the Philippines in the early 1900s and made a home in Kapahi. “He was a professional cockfighter, and she was a card player at the chicken fights. They had three children. My father, Wallace, was the oldest, and had a military career in the U.S. Army,” said Castillo.

During her high school days, Castillo was involved in multimedia, photography, news journalism, documentary film production and websites. She produced band concerts, wrote for a teen magazine, and was a weekend DJ on the radio. She went on to work in radio news in Hollywood, multimedia production in Pasadena, California and Madison, Wisconsin. She worked as a news reporter for five years and started her filmmaking career in 1989, producing her first documentary with Hawaii Public TV, going on to win an Emmy for and working on other documentaries in the last 20 years. “The road less traveled found me and I stayed on it and am still on it,” she said.

She is proof that it’s never too late to go back to school. At 30 years old, she started her freshman year of college. In 2000 and at age 50, she began her first year as a master’s student in executive business administration at the University of Hawaii and as an American Association of University Women Selected Fellow. Castillo stressed following your passion and path in life, a lesson that led her to work in Hollywood as a young woman. There, she was introduced to film as an art form, not just entertainment. When she enrolled in school, Castillo was already a veteran filmmaker, but she knew that being business savvy would help her parlay her skills as an artist. She integrates her knowledge about how to approach effective fundraising from a business perspective rather than the more common artistic viewpoint. For the five years she spent making her first film, she did not watch documentaries from other artists. She wanted to develop a documentary that was “poetic as well as original.” She pushed the limits of her imagination and creativity and challenged herself along the way. Castillo spent two and a half years fundraising for her $500,000 budget, a process that led to her interest in getting an executive MBA.

Castillo is an EMMY Award-winning documentary filmmaker with PBS credentials. Her documentaries have focused on biographies, social and cultural histories, and forays into subjects outside her usual interests, such as opera, and cockfighters in America. Castillo was a journalist for five years at The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, where she honed her storytelling skills. The idea for the film “Simple Courage” was the catalyst for Castillo leaving the newsroom and creating her first documentary. The film drew parallels between Hansen’s disease and the major health crisis — the AIDS epidemic — at the time of the film’s release. It won an Emmy.

Castillo believes that films have the power to change hearts and minds, to confront people or ideas or beliefs that are untruthful, intolerant or evil. That’s what she sees her filmmaking doing: revealing the unknown; presenting truth through stories, history or information and bringing these together in a way that helps people see things in a new light that can’t be ignored. “Creating with such power is joyful because it’s in my hands from my Creator. To have found — and be living — my God-gift is true joy!”

She has a long list of award-winning documentary films she developed for PBS and for nonprofits over more than 30 years. Castillo now heads the Hawai‘i-based Olena Productions, and has partners in Washington D.C., New York and Europe. She is also part of the Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities, Hawai‘i International Film Festival and the Garden Island Film Festival. She is also a consultant to other filmmakers and teaches digital storytelling to community college students.

Projects she hopes to finish are a documentary on the 1924 Hanapepe Massacre and her book, When Art and Spirit Meets, about her 30 years of experience in filmmaking.

Emme Tomimbang

Raised in the Kalihi-Palama, Hawaii area, Emme is a graduate of Farrington High School. After her elementary school years in Kakaako, Emme and her dad moved to Hotel and River St. where he had a second-hand appliance store. “My dad was a pioneer in Filipino radio, and he used to wake up plantation people in the ’40s and early ’50s. I was raised by my dad, so at three years old after my parents divorced I was already tagging alongside him at the radio station. He even had a TV show. And maybe that’s the influence, just being around all that, being absorbed and not being afraid of it because this is what my daddy did.” By the time she was ten years old, Emme had her own radio show. “It was called ‘Teenage Corner,’ she recalls. “It was on KOHO, 1170 on your radio dial. I must have done it till I was 14, 15 and then I became involved in drama and cheerleading at Farrington, where I graduated.”

Tomimbang went to the University of Hawaii hoping to be a teacher or counselor. “My dad was running a radio station called KISA, the first Filipino radio station in the U.S.,” she says. “He was pioneering that, and I went to work for him for a summer, and my whole life changed.” She went back on the air as the KISA “Morning Girl.” She did broadcasts in English and, she says, she would mimic Filipino words and play Filipino rock music. “It was kind of the thing to do at that time because the immigrant population was really soaring in Hawaii, and I was trying to be the conduit between the local community and the immigrant community.” That lasted a couple of years until she was approached by Don Robbs to work as a program director and promotions manager at KITV. “I knew nothing about television and here I am at Channel 4 and within six months I was doing weather!” Emme continued doing the 10 o’clock news for a couple more years. Then she says, she needed a change. “I reached a point in my life where I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I was experiencing burn out, and at that point I was a little disillusioned with anchoring because it was so much work. I said, I thought this was supposed to be glamorous!”

She got a new job at Channel 2, got married and started her own business. That’s when Emme’s Island Moments was born. The one-hour segment was on the air for more than a decade and, she says, was a real landmark in her personal journey in television. She had her own production company and she had her own line of clothing. She has shared a multitude of Emme’s Island Moments with Hawaii television viewers, and also launched a new health and wellness series titled Emme’s Island Living.

In 2011, Tomimbang cared for her husband, retired justice Jim Burns, who was diagnosed with stage four throat cancer. Some six months into the course of taking care of him, she suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm. Emme's plate was full, caregiving for her mom too, while working on her last special, Hawaii Five-O Revisited. She described her hectic schedule. "Late night, early in morning, then get few hours’ sleep. Then get up and take care of my husband who was tube fed, crush his medication, do all the things I was supposed to, to get him going." She was running on empty. Then one day, she explains, "I collapsed at home by myself." Her lifeline was her Rottweiler Rufus, “who unbeknownst to me, knew how to open our sliding doors and came and licked my face, woke me up. I crawled with him to the phone. He just kind of went on his fours and then we got to the phone. I was able to call Jim and the rest is a blur."

Tomimbang subsequently lost her husband of 30 years who died in 2017.

After a five-year hiatus, Tomimbang returned with Emme’s Island Moments in an hour-long 2021 Thanksgiving Special: “Willie K. Life on Stage Four,” featuring Grammy nominee and 19-time Na Hoku Award Winner Willie K. who is having serious health issues. “When I first learned of Willie’s health matters two years ago, I was devastated. We’ve known each other and worked together on many projects for over two decades,” Tomimbang explained. “As we celebrate Emme’s Island Moments’ 25th Anniversary, we decided to start off with a timely gesture and pay tribute to an iconic Hawaii entertainer……I need to do this special for everyone who loves Willie K., including my late husband,” said Tomimbang. “Today, Willie K.’s desire to continue with performing live to audiences at the Blue Note Club while undergoing cancer treatments in Honolulu leaves us in awe. There is something to be said of being thankful for your health journey at whatever stage you are. And this show featuring Willie K. is truly a Thanksgiving story about love and cherishing your life moments with family and friends.”

MEDICINE

Dr. Jorge Garcia

Garcia is a cardiothoracic surgery specialist in Washington, D.C. with over 57 years of experience in the medical field. Born in Biñan, Laguna to an agriculturist father and a mother who ran a carinderia, he dreamed of becoming a pilot, but his mother told him to be a doctor instead. He graduated from the University of Santo Tomas Medical School in the Philippines and later worked at the university’s hospital where he met Dr. Benjamin Belmonte who inspired him to take up cardiovascular surgery at a time when doctors still groped around for proper care among heart surgery patients. “The type of intensive care was still very primitive back then, we didn’t have different laboratory procedures and equipment that can support a heart surgery patient,” Garcia lamented. After his training, he flew to Washington, D.C. to try his luck in the world of surgery, and the rest is history.

He became Chief of Cardiac Surgery at the Washington Hospital Center and Clinical Professor of Surgery at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. In the 1990s, the Washingtonian, a prestigious monthly magazine, did a survey among doctors of different specialties, around the Washington, D.C. area. The question was: “Where will you bring your family or your loved ones if they need a heart operation?” Overwhelmingly, Garcia garnered the most number of votes, thus making him the top heart surgeon in Washington, D.C.

“Every operation is a challenge, but I enjoy the ones that are really complex and challenging. And I’m telling you, you always get that good feeling every time you know very well that you helped a patient live,” Garcia exclaims when asked if anything still challenges him in his work. Now a legend in his field, Garcia humbly remarks that it is still saving a patient’s life that is his biggest career highlight. He proudly says that he has handled severe cases of patients whom he had to “pull out of the fire.”

Despite his success in the United States, not once did he forget to help improve health care in the Philippines. He performed the first heart transplant in the Philippines and established the Makati Heart Foundation to provide for the transfer of knowledge and skills to local surgeons and nurses. Garcia also founded the Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Alabang. “We saw the quality of the hospitals, I’m talking about 15-20 years ago, the standard of our hospitals were not as good as the standard of hospitals particularly in cardiac care in well-developed countries,” states Garcia. Unfortunately, Garcia’s dream almost got sidetracked by a huge problem. He recalls that the Asian economic crises led to a series of unfortunate events. Construction got delayed, setting back their opening by almost 22 months. “So we had to do a lot of negotiations, restructuring and things like that, and get some more investors to provide the needed cash at that time,” says Garcia. With that nightmare behind them, Asian Hospital, along with the other hospitals in the country, is very much at par with the major hospitals in the United States.

Garcia’s established name in the States benefits the Philippines in two ways. The first is through a training program in which he gets to send doctors to Washington, with one strict condition: that they should return to the Philippines to practice and serve their people. The hospital he works in participates a lot in the testing of new devices. If the device proves to be of good quality, Garcia can get it at a cheaper price and then bring it over to the Philippines. “So if you’re a patient here at Asian Hospital and you’re going to have your heart surgery done here, you feel like you will get the same kind of treatment as if I’m operating on you in my hospital in Washington, D.C., the only difference is that we’re three times cheaper plus our facilities are much nicer than our facilities in the U.S.,” he remarks.

In 2015, Garcia wrote Heart and Vision: The Inspiring Life Story of Dr. Jorge Garcia. The book features not only his life story, but also motivates people to be “extraordinary” and to always be proud of their roots, to be proud of being a Filipino. Summarizing all of his years in the field, he only has this for aspiring physicians: “So I always tell younger physicians that the way you’re going to achieve that goal is you really have to work hard. Nothing is easy. Sometimes you need to be lucky, too.”

Dr. Recto F. De Leon

Born and raised in the Philippines, De Leon knew he wanted to be a physician after he was hospitalized as a child. After graduating in 1964 from Far Eastern University in the Philippines, DeLeon came to Modesto, California where he completed his residency in Family Medicine at Scenic General Hospital. After his residency, DeLeon and his wife—also a physician—remained in Modesto, where he opened his private practice in 1973.

Last October23, 2021, De Leon received the California Medical Association’s (CMA) most prestigious award, the Frederick K.M. Plessner Memorial Award, which honors the California physician who best exemplifies the ethics and practice of a rural country practitioner.

DeLeon recently retired after his 48th year of medical practice in Modesto where he spent nearly four decades serving the indigent and underserved deep in the heart of California’s Central Valley. “Dr. DeLeon is an exceptional person and an excellent physician. He dedicated his life to his patients, to the community, and to care for people, whether in the United States or outside the United States,” said Modesto gastroenterologist Magdy Elsakr, M.D. Colleagues describe DeLeon as a compassionate and dedicated physician, well-respected by patients and colleagues alike. “He could have retired many years ago, but he loves his patients and has a passion for his profession. He loves the community, and he wants to serve the people,” said Antonio Apellanes, M.D., a Modesto pediatrician.

Though Modesto was his home for the next 48 years, DeLeon has always felt driven to give back to the community where he was born. DeLeon regularly traveled back to the Philippines on medical missions to help those in need. DeLeon has also served for many years on the Board of Directors for the Stanislaus Medical Society (SMS), and has held memberships in many other worthwhile organizations, both nationally and locally. He was active with the Rotary International where he helped set up water pumps and purification systems in Guatemala and the Philippines, construct recreational parks in Mexico, and distribute wheelchairs in Vietnam.

Source: Google and Wikipedia

The Magazine

Living Legends, Part 3